American History: Our Hope for the Future

As our nation slowly divides, each political party becomes more extreme. The issue with this, is that the number of things that Americans can come together for is decreasing. As Americans, we tend to politicize everything, we have even managed to politicize football. One would think that our nation could come together when the National Anthem is being sung. One would think that our nation could come together when the American Flag is being presented. One would think that our country could come together to watch some guys chase a ball around a field. It turns out, we can’t. We just can’t.

The reason for this division is that the modern left, or the so-called “Progressives”, make the argument that The Constitution is outdated. They want to “progress” and give this nation a makeover. The extreme left (and radical leftist groups like Antifa) will go as far as to make the argument that the 2nd Amendment only applies to muskets. This idea is simply idiotic. This notion can be easily broken if one says “Does that mean the 1st Amendment only applies to paper and quills?” The right side of the political spectrum, “Conservatives”, want to keep The Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, and our overall history in our minds as a constant reminder of what has and hasn’t worked for this country. However, the radical right group, or the “alt-right”, are the exact opposite of “Antifa”. Both groups have become fascist. They will both use violence if you do not agree with them. Do not associate yourself with either of these groups.

The Conservative argument is much more logical. The Constitution is very relevant today. For example, the 2nd amendment is needed in case a government becomes tyrannical. The modern left is trying to put feelings before our rights. They think that because they are offended, they are correct. On February 2, 2017, leftist protesters showed up at UC Berkeley to riot, light things on fire, and break windows. They managed to prevent Conservative speaker Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking at the college. On September 14, leftist protesters showed up at UC Berkeley, again, to stop Conservative speaker Ben Shapiro from speaking at the college. Over $600,000 was paid for security and luckily, Ben Shapiro was able to speak. The following day Ben Shapiro tweeted out: “Free speech isn’t free. It costs over $600,000 dollars, thanks to Antifa.”

The left wants to remove history because history offends them. On August 14th, leftists pulled down a Confederate statue simply because, it hurt their feelings. The left attempts to label any dissenting view point as “hate speech”. Then, they follow that up declaring that “hate speech” isn’t protected by the 1st Amendment. Gun control advocates have implied that firearms are responsible for shootings, and thus they require heavy regulation and/or banning. They don’t realize that limiting people’s freedom of speech and the people’s right to protect their inalienable right to life, is dangerous territory. America will one day fall apart if these amendments are abolished, we will no longer be the most powerful, the most successful, and the greatest nation in the world.

My point is that our history is important to our future. We need to take our past mistakes and learn from them. Our hope for the future should be that one day, even if we disagree politically, we can come together for football, for the National Anthem, for our history. We should celebrate what our flag represents: the number one military in the world, a once oppressed nation that has risen to the top, and every single American citizen. We shouldn’t be tearing our country apart from the inside. We should be uniting to preserve this nation for as long as possible. We shouldn’t try to silence each other because we disagree. We should be practicing our freedom of speech through discussion. We shouldn’t be taking away rights, we should be preserving those rights. That must be done to make sure this nation has a future.